Academic library website functions in the context of users’ information needs

Abstract

The digital revolution has had a particular impact on the functioning of libraries: it has changed both the means of communicating with the users, and the nature of the service itself. In the case of academic libraries, an online presence is crucial due to the increased rate of Internet usage among their stakeholders, academics and students alike. From their perspective, library websites serve as digital gates to library services and resources. However, an academic library website may fulfil a wide array of functions and their importance can be variously prioritized. The purpose of our research was to find out which functions of academic library websites are viewed as the most important by a selected group of users: the students. To answer this question, we identified the main functions of academic library websites on the basis of desk research and designed a survey conducted among students of the University of Warsaw (Poland) and Vilnius University (Lithuania) ( n=680). The picture of users’ information needs with regard to content of the academic library website revealed by our research allows us to draw conclusions about the functions of the academic library website distinctive from those already mentioned in the subject literature. From the perspective of a user-centric approach we distinguished five functions of the academic library website: (1) supporting the usage of the collection (online and traditional); (2) promotion of culture; (3) gateway for locating information on the Web; (4) education; (5) creation of library’s online image.

Usability evaluation of a library website with different end user groups

“…The major problem is the non-intuitive process for using a personal account. Therefore, researchers recommend reprogramming the personal portal, because it contains the most important content elements on the library website (Mierzecka and Suminas, 2016). It has to be intuitive to navigate, easy to use, simple and understandable for all users, especially for users with lower computer literacy.…”

Usability of Central Library Websites of Iranian Universities of Medical Sciences an Evaluation

“…The search in the related literature for common tasks and functions in library websites revealed seven relevant sources 11,[17][18][19][20][21] . After reviewing these sources, 19 task for library websites were identified.…”

What is a Library Website, Anyway? Reconsidering Dominant Conceptual Models

“…While a major focus of web design innovation has been to accommodate individualization (Liu, 2008), search tools have made what could be seen as the opposite move, embracing web-scale discovery services accessed through a single search bar. Implementation of single search has not been without its hand-wringing (see Fancher, 2007), but Google's influence on users' search behavior is undisputed (Mierzecka & Suminas, 2018). Various studies have noted that students in particular gravitate toward prominent search boxes (Swanson & Green, 2011) and approach all search boxes as if they were the Google interface (Asher & Duke, 2012;Azadbakht et al, 2017), but the degree to which Google has influenced or should influence library web design choices remains an unresolved question.…”